About this time of year I wish I was heading south to somewhere hot, hot, hot. I love the sun and the heat. I survive winters by trying to stay active outdoors. I have to remind myself that I’ve been through worse.
A few years ago at Tremblant we woke up one morning and looked out at the thermometer. This is what we saw.
No matter how you look, in C or in F, it’s still the same: -39. That’s before the wind chill.
“I guess you don’t want to go downhill skiing today.”
“No.”
“Maybe cross-country or snowshoeing?”
“No.”
It was a short conversation. Somehow it’s all Dave’s fault that the weather is so cold. I think it’s because he seems to enjoy it. I still don’t get it.
Appliances came with the house when we bought it in 1991. They weren’t in great shape but they worked. The stove was particularly well worn. I figured we would keep it until it broke or we renovated the kitchen, whichever came first. I really expected it to break down any time.
17 years later the old stove just keeps on humming along. The clock has been stuck at 12:00 for years. The plug along the back is useless. It’s been cleaned so much that the pattern is worn off.
Time for a renovation, time for a new stove. We have picked out this stainless steel model with a glass cooktop. It looks like it could fly. I just hope my cooking improves with this one. I think the old stove is holding me back!
Don’t let me book your vacation. You may end up with time left but no room to stay in.
We are taking a ski trip with friends at the end of February. Back in September I booked our flights using our Aeroplan points. Ronnie & Pauline and Steve & Alison were to stay an extra night/day to visit friends in Kelowna but we were only staying for the week. Our accommodations are set for arrival on Saturday & leaving on Saturday.
Fast forward to now. I’m updating my calendar when I notice the trip is not there. I add it using the dates on my “file everything for the trip envelope”. Hmmm, the date puts it to Sunday. That can’t be correct. I check my tickets and sure enough I booked us for the same time period as the others who are staying over an extra night with friends.
Well it’s too late to change the flight now so Dave surfs a bit and finds us a nice room in Kelowna. Ends up Ronnie & Pauline aren’t staying with friends after all so they book a room too.
What to do with an extra day in Kelowna? We are going to check out some wineries. Seems it all worked out for the best.
Cross-country skiing is something that in the past I’ve done once a year if at all. Now I’m out there 2 or 3 times a week. What happened? It’s all Carla’s fault!
During the spring, summer and early fall I spend my lunch time running the paths in the woods near where I work. I’m not a particularly good or fast runner but I enjoy getting out. Carla decided to join me one day and we became good friends and running buddies.
Although she professes to hate running she asks me “What would it take for you to run through the winter?”. “Um, warm clothes?” I answer reluctantly. So I bought long pants and a couple of long-sleeved shirts.
Then came snow and more snow and running outdoors was less fun than it once had been. “Why don’t we cross-country ski instead?” she asks. So I go shopping again to purchase a package including waxless skis and fancy new boots.
Off we went along the paths into the woods. New equipment (it is all about the shopping after all) and a couple of outings later I was enjoying it. Soon we had Dave I. convinced he would like it too. He needed to buy skis as well. Carla was doing her bit for the economy without spending a penny!
So here we are today out in the woods. A runner happened along and became our photographer (that’s his finger in the top left corner). I (in the middle) even have a big smile on my face. I’m wondering what Carla will do to me next!
Our house has hardword floors. Yellow birch mill run floors to be exact. Our last big project is to redo the kitchen. Now that we have an open concept we want to extend the hardwood.
We had quite a few bundles of leftover flooring. We spread it out over the living room and realized we were about 20 sq. ft. short.
The good thing about real hardwood floors is that even 54 years later you can buy new wood that will match.
Once it is in place and the whole floor is sanded and refinished, it will all look new again.
We have laminate wood over our heated cement slab. It’s only a few years old and already we cannot match it if we need to. Good thing we aren’t renovating those rooms again!
I bought a digital camera a few months ago. It’s my first one. I decided it was time to take my own pictures instead of repeatedly saying “Take a picture of that!” everywhere we went.
Now I have pictures but I don’t really want to print them all out. Some are just fun for the moment.
Here’s a pic to start things off. I went walking through the woods with my friend Helene. She pointed out how these ferns peeking through the snow were kind of cool. “Take a picture of that!” she said.
Ha ha ha things eventually come around.
We bought a cool HD plasma TV about one and half years ago. We mounted it on the wall. It looks great. All we needed was a credenza to store our DVD player, PVR (I love that thing) and the Wii.
I have been looking for the perfect credenza since we purchased the TV. Brian recently found this one on-line.
We went to the store to check it out. Dave and I both like the colour, width, 3 drawer, 3 shelf configuration and we decided to buy it. I’m always thinking how things could be better and this day was no different.
Me: “It would be perfect if only it had legs. If I buy legs can you install them?”.
Dave: “Legs?”
Me: “Yes it’s a little low to the floor. It needs a little height.”
Dave: “Sure, piece of cake, it will only take a few minutes”.
If you look closely you’ll see that it was not a few minutes kind of job. Once we got the unit home and flipped it over there wasn’t anything to attach legs to. So Dave made some wooden blocks and glued/screwed them in place.
Here it is with 8 legs. As always Dave did a magnificent job. I think it balances out the drawer pulls nicely and gives it just the right height.
Why didn’t we just buy one with legs? I couldn’t find one. We now have a unique credenza. I’m sure Dave wishes I would stop trying to make things better!
